Venezuelan Lawmaker Says First Step Of US Policy On Caracas Should Be Recognizing Maduro

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2021) Venezuela has legitimately elected authorities and the first step that Washington� should take in order to normalize relationships with Caracas is to recognize them, deputy of the ruling Venezuelan Socialist Party, Ramon Lobo, said in an interview with Sputnik.

"First of all, the US must recognize that we are a free, sovereign, independent country with the right of free self-determination and that the population decided that Nicolas Maduro is the president in 2018 and we have another installed legislative power, which is presided over by Jorge Rodriguez," Lobo said.

According to the article published by Bloomberg, citing sources from the administration of President Joe Biden, the White House is reviewing its sanctions policy towards Venezuela. However, Lobo said that any revision must be carried out on the basis that they are illegal in terms of international law. Even though Lobo thinks that the US aggression goes far beyond Biden's policy, ideally Washington should assume the responsibility for the economic crisis generated in Venezuela.

"We hope that Joe Biden can have a different vision, even though we are aware of the intentions of large transnational corporations, the military industry, oil companies, and the big financial centers, but we always have hope," Lobo added.

Lobo believes that moving towards mutual respect and recognition would be at least a good first step, leading to the reopening of embassies and resumption of talks.

When President Nicolas Maduro was elected for the first time in 2013, after the death of Hugo Chavez (1954 - 2013), the already unstable relations between the US and Venezuela became strained. Later, in 2019, the Trump administration decided to recognize former parliamentarian Juan Guaido as the acting president of Venezuela and supported the assault of Venezuelan embassy in Washington, the countries definitively broke relations.

As a result, the White House imposed sanctions that led to significant economic problems in Venezuela. Caracas denounced the negative impact of the US attacks on its population.

For the first time in the last two years, an opportunity for negotiations opens up. On the one hand, it can lead to the lifting of sanctions, while on the other hand the opposition starts to demand the holding of presidential elections, something that the Venezuelan government is not willing to discuss.